Doing Nothing And Letting Go
by XX-Samantha-XX
Summary: AU Fic. “But I didn’t do anything. Tony, please stay.” The women cried, tears rolling down her pale cheeks; her heart breaking as she watched Tony walk away..... What could have happened early season 4....


_Don't own the characters, never have, and sadly never will….sigh _

_Well I really don't know where this came from but I had the idea probably late at night haha. I really hope you all like it. This is definitely AU and is set at the start of season 4, Tony never did his undercover mission for Jenny. Oo and This is a post Hiatus fic because I wanted to do one. I do have a sequel to A Failing Optimism started which is also a post Hiatus fic but this is just a one shot. I am also working on my other stories so chapters will come soon hopefully. Enjoy! _

**Doing Nothing And Letting Go**

The setting was almost funny in a bitter, stand-off kind of way. Two people; a man and a woman, stood mere feet away from each other in the setting sunlight. A large building set in the background. One of the people was wearing as much black as possible, and the other, a suit; carrying a box which held a Mickey Mouse stapler, an American Pie coffee Mug and a few more unseen items. Ones you'd expect to see on a certain desk.

"But I didn't do _anything_. Tony, please stay." The women cried, tears rolling down her pale cheeks; her heart breaking as she watched Tony walk away for the last time.

Tony stopped dead and turned towards the Goth. The tear-filled pleading wasn't going to work this time.

"That's the point, Abby. You stopped." Tony spoke softly and sighed.

Yes, she hadn't done anything. Hadn't cared to ask him how _he_ was doing; it may have sounded selfish but then he'd needed someone too. Was it too much to ask for just one person. Just for a small amount of time until he got his bearings, until they all had at least adjusted.

Teams were meant to stick together! Not shatter like glass because one of the number had decided to leave.

They hadn't cared that he'd looked after them all when Gibbs had been away. No, not now he was back. They had told him he shouldn't try and be someone he wasn't. The others' comments and jibs had hurt sure but, the fact that she had stopped defending him like she would if Gibbs had been there, maybe hoping that Gibbs would fix it when he came back, because he was definitely coming back! He had come back in fact. She had always fought on his side.

Until now.

She'd just stood there and watched it all fall apart. She hadn't meant to, he knew that, but it had and she'd done nothing. Doing nothing was a good as saying that she'd stopped caring. At least the jibs meant they cared enough to insult him. Even if it was a backwards way of caring. But he'd take and had taken either.

He would never have left them down another team member so he'd waiting, wondering if it was just the shock and it would wear off. But it hadn't. Even when Gibbs had come back; it had just seemed to have got worse if anything. He just got shoved out of the way, again. Ignored as he had when he been a child. And when he wasn't being ignored he was getting glared at and teased. He'd simply had enough.

Of course _he_ couldn't lead a team. What sort of silly notion was that? Was he completely delusional? He was an idiotic playboy who didn't do anything but mess around. Well, he didn't have to stand and take it this time. He could choose to leave, so he had. They had all been shocked but hadn't stopped him. Most likely glad to get rid of him his mind taunted.

It made no sense to Abby, she couldn't see why he was leaving them, but he was. At first, when she had been told she called the person a liar. Tony would never leave! But...But then she'd seen his packed away desk and ran after him, hoping to stop him, hoping to make him see sense and come back. The team needed Tony. _Damn it! She needed Tony!_

"The team need you Tony, I need you." The waver in her voice so strong that the words came out a little garbled.

She heard him chuckle and wanted to glare at him, this was no laughing matter. But there was something about the chuckle that made her feel like she'd been dipped in ice. It was cold; Tony was never cold, not towards her. It froze her so fast to the spot that she feared her legs would break if she tried to move.

"You don't need me Abby. You only want me now that I'm leaving." The sound and the smile were bitter but not hateful and it confused her more.

"That's not true!" Abby screamed as he walked further away. But her argument died, she didn't understand what she'd done so had no idea how to fix it. Gibbs could fix it!

"Gibbs won't let you go." She smiled triumphantly, she had this won now.

Tony seemed to think a minute, his brows furrowed, he rummaged around the box he was carrying and pulled out an official piece of paper. He made his way back to her and handed it to the still smiling scientist.

The smile lasted all of the few minutes it took to read the letter and the tears appeared in her eyes stronger this time. He looked away not wanting to cause _that_ look on her face. It reminded him of Kate, that had been the only other time he'd seen it.

"He already has." She heard Tony reply simply as she stared at the signature of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. But he wouldn't. This was Tony. Tony was _always_ there.

Her lips couldn't stop the trembling as she spoke next. "But why?"

"Because I can't stay."

Abby really fought the urge to demand a reason why in a child-like fashion but standing this close to him now, she saw what she hadn't seen before. His eyes, they spoke volumes about something she didn't understand, and the part that held Tony close to her heart broke and she didn't know what had happened to make him leave. Had it been the team? Had it been her?

The only thing she could do was watch him walk away now and hope that he'd see sense and come back. Hope that he was just going on holiday but the box betrayed that hope. The box held everything that he was within.

He _was_ leaving and she was powerless to stop it.

So why didn't she stop him, force him to come back, force him to stay. Yet she knew why, deep down her heart knew that he was right and it hurt her to admit it. She'd just gotten Gibbs back only to lose the one person that had always been there. The one person that had never walked away from her. She wanted to be angry at him but she knew she didn't have the right.

The next time she looked up or focused he was gone, as was the letter in her hands. She hadn't even felt it and that hurt her more than his leaving.

She'd hoped that when this day were to come that it would be a happy time, a time where they parted on good terms. Not this…. this cold and bitter goodbye where the words 'goodbye' hadn't even been spoken.

That should have been the main thought in her numbing mind but now…Now he'd disappeared into the darkness of the claustrophobic night that had come so quickly, other words repeated in her mind. The strongest by far were two little words; both insignificant without context.

_You Stopped _

It made no sense, stopped? Stopped what exactly? Talking to him? Was that it? But she knew Tony wasn't petty like that. Only something big would make him leave like this. Had something happened recently that made him want to leave. He told her _everything _but she'd had no idea that this had been coming.

But then she hadn't actually spoken to him recently, sure she'd seen him when he'd come down to comfort _her_ and give _her_ evidence but she hadn't actually _spoken_ to him. She had no idea what he'd been thinking. She'd been too occupied in trying to get Gibbs back and not seen the damage that the team had been doing to one of her own friends. She'd done nothing.

_Nothing!_

_That was what Tony's point had been!_

Silence is golden she mused. _Yeah, right._

Silence is nothing and nothing is worse that even insults. Nothing is lack to care, lack of anything really. She should have at least done _something. _Even if it was little, even little actions or the fact that someone had tried could make a world of difference.

Especially with Tony. All he really needed was the small seemingly insignificant actions to make him feel wanted like a head slap or a hug. It wasn't that hard!

She knew this more than most; except maybe Gibbs, but Gibbs had forgotten and she'd been the only one left to try and she'd failed. Broken one of her own rules.

Her heart was telling her to run, to apologise, and to promise him that she wouldn't forget this time. But her mind knew that if she were to run after him now then he'd never come back. Never talk to her again.

If it meant letting him go now in the hope that he'd one day start talking to her again, she would do it. No matter how much it hurt her, because it didn't even compare to how much she'd hurt him.

She could of course fight Gibbs on his decision but even Gibbs had known not to stop Tony this time, he must have seen the same thing in his eyes that she had. It wasn't pain or hate; it was deeper.

Anguish. Intense and agonising.

And she knew that he felt he didn't belong anymore.

And if she was completely honest, she couldn't blame him in his thought, no matter how much she knew in her and the hearts of the rest of the team that it wasn't true.

She also knew they he'd let them go weeks ago. He hadn't given up or run away. He'd left before he could hate them and she couldn't help but feel guilty that he was still trying to protect them by not hating them like he had every right to.

She hoped that one day he would forgive them but she knew that he wasn't coming back anytime soon. She sank to the floor outside the large building and watched the space behind her and Tony grow like a chasm, even if she couldn't measure the distance or see Tony anymore. Her crying stopped after a time and her last words to him were picked up on the gentle wind.

"I'm Sorry, Tony."

**The End. **

_Thanks for reading! Please read and review as always! _


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